


Heart of darkness

by missbeifong



Series: Book of Shadows [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Being Lost, First Love, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25383400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbeifong/pseuds/missbeifong
Summary: Amon removed Lin's bending... And her heart turns as dark as the sky that covers Republic City.
Series: Book of Shadows [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827475
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21





	Heart of darkness

The rain was falling heavily on Republic City that night, with no mercy towards its inhabitants. There was no light, there was no color. Those few colored light bulbs had completely disappeared that day, announcing the darkness that was looming over them all. The city was about to lose one of the greatest people it has ever met.

Amon had captured Lin, the end of that story was written in those black clouds. The sky was crying at such a moment, at such misfortune that the universe had wrought for her. They knew it was not fair, but they could not do anything. The threads could not be cut. Heaven mourned the loss of the brave soul, the stubborn heart, the life within it.

Helpless and handcuffed, Lin had been taken to Air Temple Island. All the happiness that place once had had completely disappeared, with only the remnants of the sad memories that were forged there, of the last anguished moments before the catastrophe... Only the loss of all innocence was reflected in each one of the stones of that place.

They unceremoniously released her, leaving her on her knees before Amon's figure. The coward continued with his face covered, the executioner did not show his face to her poor victim. But she was not going to hide like a rat, she was going to look at him despite not glimpsing his true face. Rather dead than being a coward, as her mother used to say.

“Tell me where the Avatar is and I’ll let you keep your bending…”

“I won’t tell you anything, you monster.” Strength, that is what her words showed. And disgust, much disgust, for being before someone despicable like him.

“Very well…”

Amon left Lin's sight and moved behind her. She had signed her sentence, Lin had sealed her end. 

There was no going back.

Lin closed her eyes for a moment. She frowned, trying to appear annoyed by the situation... But she could not go on like this for long. Her face began to show the sadness and fear that she had been keeping inside for a long time. Those two feelings went hand in hand because she was going to lose the last bond with her family, with her sister and her mother. Years had passed since she had known anything about them, but she tried to console herself that somehow, even through her abilities, they were still connected... It was her only consolation, her only excuse for not saying that she was completely alone.

Lin thought about them, what they would be doing right now. Would they be alright? Would they still be alive? She wanted to think yes. Were they happy? She hoped they were, Lin wanted to think that, after all, they knew what happiness is... Because Lin, despite everything she has lived, could not say she was. The woman lost that feeling many, many years ago, she could no longer remember when was the last time she was genuinely happy... 'I'm so sorry I wasn't the daughter you were expecting, mom... I'm so sorry I wasn't the sister that you ever wanted, Suyin... I'm so sorry I failed, I didn't fight enough in this battle ... I'm sorry to lose the last ties that unite us three, the last pieces of the union that we still could have had... I hope that wherever you two are, you have a place you can call home...'

She thought of Tenzin and his family, whom she had left behind, for whom she was sacrificing herself. Their faces of concern, the fear of what might happen to her. 'I am sorry I didn't protect you any more, I am sorry that I failed this way... I am sorry that I was not the person you once expected me to be, Tenzin, I am sorry that I was not the girlfriend you expected... I am so sorry that I cheated on you with my feelings... But I am very happy , so much, that you could find the right person... Pema, I don't hold a grudge against you, I've never had it ... The problem was with myself, not with you... Thank you for making Tenzin, my friend, happy... Thank you for giving him the family he needed... Thank you for giving him the happiness he for so long wanted... Aang would be very proud of all of you...'

Tears wanted to swirl in her eyes, but Lin was unwilling to give people like them that pleasure. No, she would not cry, no matter how much her soul wanted to accompany the clouds. Her mother had taught her to fight, to be strong, even if circumstances were not. Toph had made her a fighter despite everything.

Lin threw her head back as soon as Amon touched her neck, letting out a sigh as if it were her last breath.

'I'm so sorry, Korra, for not being more helpful... But I prefer they end with my powers than yours, even though we didn't start off on the right foot... You're just a girl and you have a lot to give to this world... And not only as an Avatar, that's the least of all this... You have a lot to offer the world, Korra, and nobody should stop you from showing your potencial... I am sorry that I couldn't give more of myself, I am sorry that I didn't show the world that energy that I used to have, that energy that you also have within you... The world has already lost the strength that I could offer, it doesn't deserve that we deprive it of someone else like that... I hope you fight to the end, Korra, and give a good punch to the mouth of all those who don't believe in you... '

Amon's other hand slowly approached her forehead.

‘I'm sorry I didn't protect the world like I promised you, Aang… I'm sorry I failed my promise…’

Amon touched Lin's forehead with his thumb, snatching the most precious treasure from that woman hidden among so many barriers.

Emptiness, darkness, pain. 

Her body had been devoid of what had kept her alive all those years, the only bond she still had with her family, the only reason she still felt useful despite the years... And there was no longer none of it, not even the ashes of what once was. Her body had been devoid of all content, only a hollow corpse was left moving aimlessly and meaninglessly. Nothing, nothing was left... Her body became a mere empty object, devoid of any content that could give it life. Now, more than ever, Lin was empty.

Just a scared girl who needed her mother's help with all her might, because the darkness her heart was dying frightened her like nothing had ever done before.

She collapses at the emptiness of her being. Her face shows the pain produced by that bastard, in addition to her eyes showing fear of the emptiness that expanded within herself. A black shadow enveloped them, the one that never wanted to leave.

The rain kept falling on her body, but those present did not care. They only wanted Korra and Lin had not helped them, since she would have died before giving them the person who was once as important in her life as Aang was.

Rather dead than betraying her friends, though death was the sweetest fate Lin Beifong could know.

"Let's get out of here, we have better prey to capture the Avatar... Someone will take care of her..."

Everyone left that island, leaving Lin lying on the ground like a poor animal that no one loves anymore.

The rain was still falling, crying because of the heart that was succumbing to darkness.

* * *

Lin woke up in absolute darkness, her eyes could not see anything around her. She tried to move, but her body was anchored to the ground. As much as she wanted, her body was not going to respond. Absolute darkness kept her trapped, the one that had her before... And this time it seemed ready to consume her completely.

"Hello? Is there someone?" She screamed, searching for an answer.

An evil laugh, the one Lin already knew so well, answered. She tried to move, but her body did not respond. The woman wanted to escape, but she was not going to be able.

The darkness was already a part of her and she could not walk away from it.

She felt something rise up her legs. The darkness was trapping her, climbing through them, consuming all the life that was in its way.

"No!" The woman tried to push the thing away with her hands, without success. That thing jumped into her hands, she could feel her skin burn, penetrating every inch of her being. "Go away!" No matter how much she screamed, no matter how much she objected, it was not going to listen.

Her sentence had already been signed.

Lin's voice, her face, and her entire body changed when she was caught. The years diminished as fear became its owner, as she started to be smaller and smaller, as the walls fell and her true self was revealed in the dark. There was no longer a mature woman in the midst of absolute loneliness, but an adult full of pain for the mark received, a teenager full of fear for what the world might think about her heart, a little girl in search of absent figures that never will arrive. The girl cries inconsolably, completely covered in darkness, calling out to a mother who was not going to be there for her.

But a light in the distance, very dim, began to shine. She was approaching, she was calling her. Lin knew that voice, that sweet, soft voice that screamed her name. Her figure was becoming clearer, more defined, as she approached the already adolescent Lin.

She stopped crying, even though some rebellious tears were still running down her face. She looked perplexed at the figure of the woman with teal eyes, unable to believe that she had heard her call, unable to believe that she had come to her aid.

"Shall we go home, Lin?" The woman's hand reached out to her, waiting for Lin to take her, with a smile capable of illuminating the entire universe, the entire darkness. Fearful of what the world might still think about her heart, Lin slowly reached out her hand to hers.

Her fingers brushed softly, in a whisper, in a gust of wind. It was enough for the darkness to begin to recede, slowly showing Lin Beifong's true colors.

The crying girl was gone.

The teenager was no longer afraid.

The mature woman had already knocked down all the walls that separated her from the world.

Only the light remained, the warmest and most attractive light she had ever known. Just her, her eyes like two stars lighting Lin's path to salvation.

* * *

But it had all been a dream, a delirium of the night, because when she woke up Lin found absolute darkness, although this time she could see what was around her: nothing, the most absolute and pestilential.

The woman got up from the bed she was lying on, feeling the cold ground under her feet. She was not wearing her uniform, she was not wearing her insignia, although now they would be of no use to her. She did not have her power, she had nothing. Lin walked around the room, looking for what few belongings she had left, so she could get away from there.

The chief wanted to hide from the world, hide her shame from the rest of humanity.

The woman left the room, realizing that she was inside the temple. Lin did not know who it might have been, as she assumed they all fled before the catastrophe. She hurried down the hallways, not wanting to be seen by the person who had helped her. Lin did not want to think it was her, she did not want her to be there.

Because no matter how much in that vision she had broken her walls, now awake she had rebuilt them. Taller, thicker. More harmful to her.

She heard a voice, but this time she did not stop to look at who it was.

"Leave me alone!" She snapped with disgust and strength, more than a part of her would have wanted.

Lin just wanted to go home and forget everything that had happened.

* * *

The chief of police had let the darkness enter her house, invited it to be with her. It would be useless to refuse, since her interior was consumed by it.

Thousands of bottles were on the floor, but more would come as time went on. She wanted to drown her misfortune in those so intoxicating, so tempting liquids, not thinking about what she had lost, in the part of her being that would never return if they caught Korra, the last airbenders or anyone she cared about. Lin was already broken, what did it matter if she drank?

"It’s only you and me, Lin... Together until the end of our days, lasting in time... Consuming your tender heart, turning it black... Filling it only with the darkness that your soul insisted on enclosing between walls of metal... "


End file.
